African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf has blasted Washington’s decision to bar South Africa from the G20 Leaders’ Summit, declaring the gathering “makes no sense” without Pretoria.
International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola received and hosted Ali Youssouf in Pretoria on Wednesday, where they discussed various issues, including the challenges facing the African continent, the US and Israel’s war in Iram, rising oil prices, and the G20 summit.
SA barred
In November 2025, US President Donald Trump announced that Pretoria would be barred from attending the next G20 summit in America.
Tensions between South Africa and the United States were at a high after the US boycotted the two-day G20 leaders’ Summit hosted at Nasrec in Johannesburg.
“The United States did not attend the G20 in South Africa, because the South African government refuses to acknowledge or address the horrific human rights abuses endured by Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers,” Trump said.
Shifting focus
Ali Youssouf said South Africa’s being barred from the G20 Summit will shift the focus away from the African continent.
“We are not only worried; we condemn that, we reject that. South Africa is a major player in the G20. It has been very successful in hosting the summit… and the triptych that South Africa proposed really was wonderfully accepted and received by the African public opinion, generally speaking.”
‘No sense’
He said barring South Africa “makes no sense.”
“This new summit that will take place in Miami, this theme of sustainability, development, etc., without South Africa, it does not make any sense,” Ali Youssouf said.
“We, the African Union, as a full member, we relied on South Africa [to] voice the expectations of the continent, and South Africa did it. So, we will work with the next chair of the next summit so that these things cannot happen.
“You know, this G20 platform is not exclusive to any country, so inclusivity is very important, and if we, as Africans, need to see someone around the table, or a country, it is the Republic of South Africa. So, our position is very clear,” he said.
Gondongwana not accredited
Earlier this month, South Africa was dealt another blow after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana was not accredited to attend the upcoming meeting of the Group of 20 finance chiefs in Washington, US.
Speaking to Bloomberg on Sunday at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, as he travelled to the US to take part in Spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, Godongwana said that neither he nor South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago will be attending the G20 meeting.
“We are members of the G20,” he said.
“However, the US has not accredited us, which means that South Africa will not be part of the G20 for the whole of this year.”
G20
The US took over the G20’s annual rotating presidency from South Africa in late 2024, and it will next pass to the UK.
The G20 traditionally meets on the sidelines of the biannual IMF and World Bank gatherings and on other occasions, and also holds a heads-of-state summit.
